The Adantri divide the day into twenty-four hours: twelve hours of night and twelve of day. With the changing of the seasons, the hours of official night and day may overlap the hours of the sun in one direction or the other. At the equinox, when night and day are of equal length, they fit perfectly. The first hour of the night begins at sunset, the sixth hour ends at midnight; the first hour of the day begins at dawn, and the seventh hour of the day begins at noon. When taking the whole twenty-four hour period together as one day, it begins at sunrise, i.e., first the hours of the daytime, and then the night. Several different methods of marking the hours are used--sundials have serious drawbacks, but they are common in country places. Water clocks are sometimes inaccurate, depending on humidity. Pendulum clocks are the most reliable, but they are generally cumbersome and rather expensive; they are commonest on civic buildings, although some have been made small enough for use in private residences (they're very expensive). Hourglasses can be used, of course, if you have someone to turn them promptly at the end of each hour.

Most people who find themselves in need of fairly accurate stationary time-counting use time candles. These candles, which are generally made to burn for twelve hours, are marked off in one hour intervals. Unless placed in a draft, they burn at a steady rate. Sometimes a chimney is put around them to keep the flame steady. Also, in all towns and city districts and many villages there will be a pendulum clock which tolls the hours, and sometimes the quarter hours, loudly enough that it can be heard for some distance, providing the service of uniform time-keeping. Note that time candles, with the care that must be used in making them, are too expensive to use for lighting. Other, cheaper, candles are available for that purpose, although a candle doesn't give much light by our standards. Public places and the homes of the moderately well-to-do are lit by oil lamps.

All cities, most towns, and many villages have one or more public clocks. These are pendulum clocks; usually there is a bell-tower associated with such a clock, and the hours will be rung and may be audible for two miles or more if the wind is right. This is the commonest way of timing such things as appointments, the opening and closing of business, and the like--by listening for the bells.

Portable time-pieces, watches, do exist, but they are very expensive. Possession of a watch usually marks a person as very wealthy and is frequently held to mark an inclination to show off that wealth. Some professions value the use of such portable clocks; for instance, the commanders of the various units engaged in a tricky coordinated military effort may carry synchronized watches.